Device for making strudel leaf dough sheet

ABSTRACT

This device stretches pastry dough simultaneously both laterally and longitudinally to form a moving gradually thinning sheet of said dough. In this device the dough sheet of relatively large thickness is fed into a set of front rollers to be then seized by a plurality of seizure rollers disposed in two rows in a divergent or V-shaped manner and engaging the respective opposing longitudinal edges of the dough sheet. The seizure rollers of each divergent row are provided with top and bottom rollers having grooved portions of mating relationship and adapted to seize the edge of said dough sheet. The speed of the dough sheet is increased uniformly as it approaches the exit end of the device. This speed is attained by use of driven pulleys of suitable size connected to the grooved rollers. An idler and a driven roller is provided between the opposing rows of divergent rollers to support the center area of the gradually thinning dough sheet and thus prevent any tearing of it.

[451 Apr. 4, 1972 DEVICE FOR MAKING STRUDEL LEAF DOUGH SHEET LeonhardSchafer, 2770 Briggs Avenue, New York, NY. 10458 Filed: July 27, 1970Appl. N0.: 58,223

Inventor:

Int. Cl ..A21c 3/00 FieldofSearch ..107/10-13, 1,5, 107/34, 57,1R,1A, 57D; 38/143; 18/2 A, 9,10, 2 C, 2 F, 1 FB; 100/70, 74, 94

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Primary ExaminerJordan FranklinAssistant Examiner-Geo. V. Larkin Attorney-F rank Makara [5 7] ABSTRACTThis device stretches pastry dough simultaneously both laterally andlongitudinally to form' a moving gradually thinning sheet of said dough.in this device the dough sheet of relatively large thickness is fed intoa set of front rollers to be then seized by a plurality of seizurerollers disposed in two rows in a divergent or V-shaped manner andengaging the respective opposing longitudinal edges of the dough sheet.The seizure rollers of each divergent row are provided with top andbottom rollers having grooved portions of mating relationship andadapted to seize the edge of said dough sheet. The speed of the doughsheet is increased uniformly as it approaches the exit end of thedevice. This speed is attained by use of driven pulleys of suitable sizeconnected to the grooved rollers. An idler and a driven roller isprovided between the opposing rows of divergent rollers to support thecenter area of the gradually thinning dough sheet and thus prevent anytearing of it.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures i [w ni Ill/m.

DEVICE FOR MAKING STRUDEL LEAF DOUGH SHEET In the prior art, strudeldough is made by hand and is thus a time consuming and costly process.

The embodiment presented in this invention employs two rows ofsubstantially identical configuration of divergently disposed mated topand bottom seizure rollers, which rollers seize the moving edges of asheet of pastry dough as it emerges from a pair of front smoothingrollers. These grooved rollers pull the dough sheet forward withuniformly increasing speed as they also pull said sheet sidewardsuniformly. Thus the entire area of the dough sheet is uniformlystretched as it progresses from the front pair of smoothing rollerstoward and to the rear pair of smoothing exit rollers. In effect theopposing rows of divergent grooved rollers are mirror images of eachother.

It is an object of this invention to provide a mechanical device formaking strudel dough of a very thin quality.

It is another object to provide a device that produces a narrow sheet ofdough of a relatively thick quality at a front pair of rollers, whichthen seizes the moving dough as it emerges from said front rollers atthe opposing edges and advances it forwardly as it stretches itlaterally.

It is another object to provide a strudel dough making device withouttearing it as it advances toward the exit rollers.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent uponreading the following disclosure of an illustrative embodiment in whichFIG. 1 is a top plan view of the strudel machine showing a left side anda right side bank of corrugated rollers used to pull the dough sheetsidewards while propelling it forward and further showing a singlecentrally disposed divergently spiraled roller used to propel the centerof the strudel sheet forward with suitable stretching,

FIG. 2 is a front view of the machine showing a pair of feed rollersthrough which the relatively thick dough sheet is drawn and also showinga hand crank for operating the machine,

FIG. 3 is a partial sideview taken substantially on line 33 of FIG. Iand showing the gradual thinning of the dough sheet as it is drawn outlaterally and forwardly as it passes from the front feed rollers to therear exit rollers,

FIG. 4 is a side view of the machine taken on line 44 of FIG. 1 andshowing the various pulley sizes and arrangement to effect a uniformlyincreasing speed of the dough sheet from the front to the rear of themachine and FIG. 5 is a section view taken on line 55 of FIG. 4 andshowing the manner of seizure of the sheet of strudel dough between abottom driven suitably circularly corrugated roller at its free end anda top idler roller similarly corrugated to mate with the bottom drivenroller.

Turning to the drawing, the strudel sheet making machine is disposed ona platform 10. A pair of front feed rollers 11 and 12 are suitablyspaced-apart to receive the relatively thick stretchable dough sheet 13(shown in dotted outline) FIG. 1. The bottom feed roller 12 is providedwith a gear 15 at one end secured to the roller axle 14, said gear 15mating with gear 16 secured to and motivating top feed roller 11. Axle14 is supported in upright supports 17 and is secured to a hand crank inthe illustrative embodiment shown. Other motivating power may be used inlieu of the crank 18, for example, an electrical motor.

A belt drive 19 is disposed over a suitably small pulley 20 secured torear axle 21. Axle 21 is supported on upright supports 22 and is securedto bottom roller 23. A top idler roller 24 is disposed in the U-shapedchannels 25 of upright supports 22 and rests on the thin strudel doughpassing between rollers 23 and 24. Additional supports 26 are providedfor axle 21.

A pair of suitably large suitably deeply grooved pulleys 27 are disposedon rear axle 21. These pulleys 27 motivate respectively a right bank ofend corrugated dough stretching rollers and a left bank of identicalrollers by means of belt drives 28.

The pair of banks of end corrugated or channeled rollers are angularlyand laterally disposed to form a V-shaped configuration disposed awayfrom the front rollers 11 and 12. The bottom driven rollers 29 aredriven by pulleys of preselected size and arrangement so as to produce auniformly increasing or stretching speed on the dough sheet from thefront of the machine to the rear thereof. The top rollers 30 are helddown by gravity and are non-driven or idler rollers. Rollers 30 are madeto mate with rollers 29 so that the round corrugations of a roller 30mate with the channels of a roller 29 and vice versa, thereby seizingthe strudel sheet located therebetween. The opposed angular dispositionof two banks or rows of corrugated seizure rollers causes the doughsheet to be stretched sidewardly and forwardly with consequent loss ofthickness.

As shown in FIG. 4, a belt 28 engages pulley 27 and a pulley 32 oflesser diameter secured to axle 33 of a driven roller 29. The axles 33of driven rollers 29 are disposed in suitable apertures of upright plate34 secured to platform 10 and also in individual upright supports 35. Asmall pulley 32X engages a suitably larger pulley 36 by belt 37 disposedon axle 33 of the adjacent roller 29. This arrangement of small pulley32X on an axle 33 by way of a belt 37 engaging a larger pulley 36secured to an axle 33 of an adjacent roller 29 is repeated a pluralityof times to produce, for example, a series bank of four driven rollers29, the rotational speed of each being increased as the strudel sheet 13moves from the front of the machine to the rear to produce stretchingaction on said sheet.

The idler rollers 30 are disposed on non-driven axles 40 and arepositioned between the suitably spaced-apart adjacent rollers 29 so asto equally engage them, except for the rearmost roller 30. Thecorrugations or annular ridges 31 of a roller 30 mate with the receivingannular channels 31X of a roller 29 (FIG. 5) to effect a seizure indepth of the edge of the strudel sheet. Moreover, the weight of theroller 30 pushes down the strudel sheet between the rollers 29 tostretch the sheet therebetween.

In the operation of the machine, the strudel sheet of a thickness ofabout one-quarter to about one-half inch is introduced between rollers11 and 12 and emerges from rollers 24 and 25 with a thickness of about0.005 inches and translucent to light. The rollers of this machine thatcontact the dough sheet are made for sanitary reasons of stainlesssteel, aluminum or plastic material.

To support the thick sheet of dough immediately behind rollers 11 and 12a support idler roller 41 is provided. The roller 41 is disposed in abracket having upright arms 42.

An auxiliary roller 43 is divergently grooved towards its edges andprovided-with a center channel to receive a pulley belt. Roller 43 bothsupports the strudel sheet and helps in stretching it longitudinally andlaterally, thereby preventing tears in the sheet. The roller 43 issupported on each end by supports 44 and a drive belt 45 is provided inits center channel to produce the desired rotation. Power is supplied toroller 43 from the driven axle 14 by means of a large pulley 46 securedthereto and a belt 47 engaging a smaller pulley 48 secured to asecondary axle 49. Axle 49 is journaled into supports 50 and is providedwith a pulley 5 I to receive belt 45. The size relationship of pulleys46,48 and 51 is such as to propel the center of the strudel sheet onroller 43 at substantially the same speed as that of the seized outeredges, thereby preventing a tearing of the sheet.

I claim:

1. A strudel sheet forming machine comprising a front pair of drivenrollers for introducing a relatively thick strudel dough sheet; a pairof opposed laterally and angularly disposed rows of end-corrugatedrollers, said rows of corrugated rollers being disposed in a V-shapedconfiguration away from said pair of driven rollers, each row of rollershaving a bottom plurality of linear spaced-apart driven end-channelcorrugated rollers and a top plurality of non-driven idler ridgeend-corrugated rollers, said top rollers being respectively disposedbetween a pair of bottom driven rollers in corrugated mated relationshipand adapted to seize a respective edge of said strudel sheet; pulleymeans for interconnectedly engaging said bottom driven rollers forincreasing the speed thereof and of the seized sheet from the front endto the rear end of the machine whereby the opposed edges of the seizedstrudel sheet are uniformly pulled sidewardly to produce a stretcheduniformly thin strudel sheet.

2. The strudel sheet making machine of claim 1, having a divergentlyspiral roller of two half sections centrally disposed between said tworows of sheet seizing rollers, said spiral roller being suitably drivenand supporting said sheet thereon whereby said sheet is stretchinglypropelled both forwardly and sidewardly by said spiral roller.

3. The machine of claim 1, comprising a base plate fixedly securing saidfront and said exit pairs of strudel conveying rollers; axle meansfixedly secured to the center of each roller atthe non-corrugated endthereof; an upright apertured plate secured fixedly behind each row ofrollers to said base receiving the free end of each roller axle saidpulley means comprising pairs of co-acting large and small pulleysdisposed adjacently on said bottom roller axles and connected by a beltwhereby said bottom driven rollers are provided with a uniformlyincreasing rotational speed adapted to stretch said sheet of strudeldough.

4. A strudel sheet forming machine comprising a base plate; a frontrelatively short length pair of driven rollers for engaging a relativelythick strudel sheet secured by supports to said base plate; a pair ofangularly disposed opposed banks of roilers having top idler rollersdisposed between and engaging adjacent bottom driven rollers,saidrollers each having dough sheet seizure corrugations at one end and anaxle centrally in the roller face at the other end, said corrugations ofsaid idler rollers co-acting in mating relationship with thecorrugations of said bottom rollers to seize an edge of said sheet; anupright apertured plate secured to said base behind each bank of rollersand receiving the axle free ends in the apertures thereofipulley meanshaving a small diameter pulley secured to a driven bottom roller axleand connected by a belt to a larger diameter pulley secured to the axleof an adjacent spaced-apart roller to effect a varying rotational speedrelationship among said bottom driven rollers and a consequent speedeffect on the seized strudel sheet; a driven divergently groove spiraledroller disposed between said banks of rollers and secured to said baseplate and supporting said strudel sheet, said spiral roller propellingsaid sheet forwardly and equally sidewardly to effect a stretching ofsaid sheet;and a rear pair of exit rollers engaging the thin stretchedstrudel sheet therebetween,said exit rollers having a bottom drivenroller and a top idler roller, each of a length to support the laterallystretched sheet.

1. A strudel sheet forming machine comprising a front pair of drivenrollers for introducing a relatively thick strudel dough sheet; a pairof opposed laterally and angularly disposed rows of end-corrugatedrollers, said rows of corrugated rollers being disposed in a V-shapedconfiguration away from said pair of driven rollers, each row of rollershaving a bottom plurality of linear spaced-apart driven end-channelcorrugated rollers and a top plurality of non-driven idler ridgeend-corrugated rollers, said top rollers being respectively disposedbetween a pair of bottom driven rollers in corrugated mated relationshipand adapted to seize a respective edge of said strudel sheet; pulleymeans for interconnectedly engaging said bottom driven rollers forincreasing the speed thereof and of the seized sheet from the front endto the rear end of the machine whereby the opposed edges of the seizedstrudel sheet are uniformly pulled sidewardly to produce a stretcheduniformly thin strudel sheet.
 2. The strudel sheet making machine ofclaim 1, having a divergently spiral roller of two half sectionscentrally disposed between said two rows of sheet seizing rollers, saidspiral roller being suitably driven and supporting said sheet thereonwhereby said sheet is stretchingly propelled both forwardly andsidewardly by said spiral roller.
 3. The machine of claim 1, comprisinga base plate fixedly securing said front and said exit pairs of strudelconveying rollers; axle means fixedly secured to the center of eachroller at the non-corrugated end thereof; an upright apertured platesecured fixedly behind each row of rollers to said base receiving thefree end of each roller axle ; said pulley means comprising pairs ofco-acting large and small pulleys disposed adjacently on said bottomroller axles and connected by a belt whereby said bottom driven rollersare provided with a uniformly increasing rotational speed adapted tostretch said sheet of strudel dough.
 4. A strudel sheet forming machinecomprising a base plate; a front relatively short length pair of drivenrollers for engaging a relatively thick strudel sheet secured bysupports to said base plate; a pair of angularly disposed opposed banksof rollers having top idler rollers disposed between and engagingadjacent bottom driven rollers,said rollers each having dough sheetseizure corrugations at one end and an axle centrally in the roller faceat the other end, said corrugations of said idler rollers co-acting inmating relationship with the corrugations of said bottom rollers toseize an edge of said sheet; an upright apertured plate secured to saidbase behind each bank of rollers and receiving the axle free ends in theapertures thereof;pulley means having a small diameter pulley secured Toa driven bottom roller axle and connected by a belt to a larger diameterpulley secured to the axle of an adjacent spaced-apart roller to effecta varying rotational speed relationship among said bottom driven rollersand a consequent speed effect on the seized strudel sheet; a drivendivergently groove spiraled roller disposed between said banks ofrollers and secured to said base plate and supporting said strudelsheet, said spiral roller propelling said sheet forwardly and equallysidewardly to effect a stretching of said sheet;and a rear pair of exitrollers engaging the thin stretched strudel sheet therebetween,said exitrollers having a bottom driven roller and a top idler roller, each of alength to support the laterally stretched sheet.